Gig Harbor Washington to Bar Harbor Maine 2001

So we could have taken the Heartland bike path, a Rails-to-Trails route, from Park Rapids east and a little north to the Paul Bunyan trail which would have taken us straight south to Brainerd. But we didn't. We'd been advised to take a scenic route due east to catch the Paul Bunyan trail. We passed a bike shop this morning and Gridley asked if we should stop and get route directions. I said no. Dumbass.

So we go off on these very nice scenic backroads and see the sign "Crow Creek Bridge closed." I'm sure we'll find a nice detour. A few miles later we're taking a break in a driveway when the resident pulls up. We ask about the bridge and the best thing we can do is go back a mile and a half and take a series of county roads that eventually take us to the trail, far south of where we hoped to go. This is not your typical section line grid system. We'd follow a road south for a while, turn east, a little north, some northwest, more south. I'm not sure how a crow would have done it, but it would have been a lot less than the 100 miles it took us. Of course, it was too damn hot for crows today anyway.

The place to be in Nimrod.

These back roads weren't exactly bad. There was little traffic and there was a store or two and a bar in Nimrod where we got sandwiches and cokes. The country was green farms and forests. It was nice but it all looked about the same. The winters must be bad though, because the roads had the constant tarred cracks again and we got jangled again.

When we finally got to the trail, after 73 miles, it was awesome. Wide, perfectly smooth pavement, between shady trees, and with very few bikers - and no cars. We cruised for 22 miles right into Brainerd. Then we started looking for the much ballyhooed city park with camping. On our way there, Greg Booth pulled over and told us that he'd just given Kathryn and Garcia a ride to a store where they could get some tire patches. Kathryn had four flats today and they were out of patches. He offered to let us camp at his farm, even offered to haul us there. But we were so close to camping and food and everything.

Well, the park was beautiful, right on a lake. We could swim and frolic. "No tent camping." So we head back to intercept the kids and find a motel. Gridley's eagle eye spied them at a Subway and we grabbed some subs. It was like an oven inside so we picnicked in the parking lot. After dinner in the foyer of the grocery store last night, we're getting pretty pathetic.

So I called the nearest motel, no vacancies. They told me the only place with any room and I called them. $99 per room and it was far enough out of town they couldn't even give me directions. We called Greg.

I wrote down the directions as Gridley repeated what Greg told him. We started on the bike path and rode about 20mph in a BOB paceline. At the first cross street we asked a rollerblading couple for directions. They were skeptical of our limited knowledge of where we were going and offered to let us camp in their yard. But we followed their guess and headed into the sunset. Last night we could only see the sunset in our mirrors. We've got to get started earlier. We found Greg looking for us a few miles later. It was much farther than we thought and we kept riding really hard. When we started, Kathryn thought she had another flat, but it was just gum and rocks on her wheel. I warned her that she'd have to move fast for us to make it before dark. I had a hard time keeping up with her the whole way and when we finally followed Greg up his road, she left us all in the dust - and sand and gravel. The last half mile or so was unridable for the rest of us. She just kept going.

Sunup Farms.

The mosquitos are remarkable here, but so is Greg's house. He let us use his shower, thank God. I know I've been reeking for hours. He and a friend designed, built and even cut many of the trees for his incredible house. He raises quarter horses. I'll be interested in seeing the rest of the farm in the morning. Right now I'm much more interested in putting this old tired body to bed.